Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 83

LITERARY ACTIVITY OF THE MONK 77
tion; and the fact that almost all of them have passed through several editions is in itself a proof of their great worth and popularity.
VIJAYA DHARMA SŪRI AS A PRILOLOGIST AND A CRITIC
The work, however, in which Vijaya Dharma Sūri first revealed himself as an able philologist and an efficient and erudite critic is his popular edition of the Yoga-shāstra of Hemachandra Achārya, published in the Bibliotheca Indica. Hema Chandra Sūri, the great Achārya who flourished in the twelfth century, is said to have written 35,000,000 shlokas on such varying, diverse and distinct subjects as religion, history, poetry, logic, grammar, &c. As he wrote chiefly in Sanskrit, his name is held in high esteem, not only by the Jainas, but also by the educated Hindus. So great were the power and influence wielded by him that he came to be regarded and recognized as the · Kalikāla Sarvajña,' the Omniscient of the Kaliyuga. Several editions of his famous Yoga-shāstra have been published; but these were of very little use to the students who desired to follow the subject in its original as laid down by the author both with respect to the text and the commentary. The want of a critical edition of the text with the author's own commentary thereon was keenly felt by every one engaged in the teaching and study of it; and Vijaya Dharma Sūri supplied this long-felt want by publishing his edition, wherein he has displayed a sound erudition and a great mastery of his subject.